Diabetes award for team supporting national implementation of hybrid closed-loop technology
The NHS England GIRFT team supporting trusts to move to hybrid closed-loop (HCL) technology has won an award for its outstanding contribution in improving the quality of life for people living with diabetes.
Professor Partha Kar, NHS England GIRFT Type 1 diabetes and technology lead, and the whole NHSE HCL team picked up the NHS England Outstanding Contribution Award for Services in Diabetes at the recent Quality in Care (QiC) Diabetes awards.
QiC Diabetes exists to recognise, reward and share good clinical practice across the UK and Ireland, and highlight the vital contribution made by local teams and individuals.
A QiC award means an initiative has been recognised by the NHS, patients and industry as improving the quality of life for people living with diabetes.
Professor Kar and the team are supporting NHSE’s five-year implementation strategy for hybrid closed loop technologies, liaising with trusts to ensure they are moving to HCL for people with type 1 diabetes and gathering data on its use.
NHS England’s vision is to ensure equitable and fair access to diabetes technologies; 65 per cent of people living with type 1 diabetes are now accessing flash glucose monitoring, with 98 per cent of eligible pregnant women offered a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device.
HCL is the next step in the evolution of diabetes technology as it delivers insulin automatically using a calculation based on continuous glucose measurements. HCL systems are designed to reduce the mental burden of having to review complex data and make multiple calculations to optimise insulin dosing and can therefore improve people’s quality of life. A phased five-year implementation of HCL began in January 2024, with GIRFT’s support.
Professor Kar said: “Diabetes technology is an area very close to my heart, so I am delighted to see the efforts of our HCL team being recognised nationally with this award.
“The use of HCL has been shown to have significant benefits for the patient, reducing the mental burden of living with diabetes and improving people’s quality of life, so the work we will be doing over the next 4-5 years will make a huge difference to thousands of people.”